universidad nacional autónoma de nicaragua. unan …repositorio.unan.edu.ni/9324/1/18766.pdfm.sc....

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua.

UNAN-Managua

Facultad Regional Multidisciplinaria.

FAREM-Estelí

Effectiveness of Real-Life based Passages on the Development of

Reading Comprehension in tenth Grade Students at the “National

Institute of Palacagüina Rodolfo Castillo” during the first semester

2017.

Authors

1. María Zeneyda Calderón Dávila

2. Mariel Omara Sánchez Talavera

3. Kenia Elizabeth González Olivas

Adviser

M.Sc. Jeydels Alexander Espinoza Barahona

Estelí, November 2017

2017: AÑO DE LA UNIVERSIDAD EMPRENDEDORA

Carta de recomendación del tutor

Por medio de la presente hago constar que Mariel Omara Sánchez Talavera, María

Zeneyda Calderón Dávila y Kenia Elizabeth González Olivas, estudiantes de la carrera

Licenciatura en Ciencias de la Educación con mención en Inglés, han cumplido con los

requisitos científicos, técnicos y metodológicos estipulados en la normativa correspondiente

para la culminación de su monografía y por ende sus estudios superiores.

Por lo anterior se autoriza para que realicen la presentación y defensa de su trabajo de

investigación, ante el tribunal que se estime conveniente.

Se extiende la presente a los veinte días del mes de noviembre de dos mil diecisiete.

Atentamente,

MSc. Jeydels Alexander Espinoza Barahona

Docente

UNAN-Managua/FAREM-Estelí

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, Managua

(UNAN-MANAGUA)

~

Facultad Regional Multidisciplinaria Estelí

Departamento Ciencias de la Educación y Humanidades

ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension can be really challenging to master, especially for

learners of English as a second language (ESL). The goal of reading is to derive

meaning and comprehend what we read. The main topic of this research is

“Effectiveness of real life based passages to improve reading comprehension at

the National Institute of Palacaguina “Rodolfo Castillo” in 10th Grade Students,

during the 1st Semester 2017. The focus of this study was on whether or not

learners exposed to real-life based passages would improve their reading

comprehension by learning with authentic materials as opposed to passages from

textbooks.

In order to achieve this goal, twelve students from a government-run

secondary school were selected as participants. The school is located in the city of

Palacaguina, Department of Madriz, Nicaragua. The study was carried out over

three weeks (6 visits). The data for this research was gathered through observation

guides, interviews to the students and an interview that was directly applied to the

teacher. This data was then analyzed under the qualitative approach.

The results reflected that the use of real-life based passages as one type of

authentic materials is of great significance to the personal and cognitive

development of learners of a second language. It has been proved that the use of

authentic materials along with engaging teaching strategies will result in significant

learning of the language, particularly in the enhancement of the reading skill.

Dedicatory

We dedicate our work, firstly to God who is our sublime creator. We thank him for

giving us life, wisdom, understanding, strength, good will and enlightenment in all

the development of our research.

We also thank our parents for their unconditional support in different areas and for

being the ones behind this project. Thanks for the motivation and for caring about

dreams.

To Mrs. Isidra Herrera Aguirre, who helped us at the moment of requesting

information to enrich our work. She helped us obtain new and different knowledge

to our benefit.

And we dedicate this work in a very special way to our advisor, MSc. Jeydels

Barahona, for being the one who guided our during the research process.

Today we can say that we have achieved our goal. To all of them thank you so

much!

Acknowledgments

Firstly, we give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ because he gave us the wisdom

and strength in all of this process.

We express our sincere gratitude to all of those who have helped us in one way or

another during this research process, especially during the investigation and during

the writing process of this paper. We want to make mention the following people in

particular for their invaluable contribution to this thesis.

Our special thanks go to our Adviser MSc. Jeydels Barahona, who has been our

guide in all the aspects of this research paper. His contribution to the investigation,

writing and logistic of this thesis is invaluable. His ideas, comments, and

encouragement have enriched not only the content of this thesis but also our

academic, professional, and personal life. He is our model supervisor. He always

had time to correct our English and to comment on our writing style.

We want to express our sincere gratitude to the teacher: Mrs. Isidra Herrera

Aguirre for being a big help in all of this process. Thanks for her unconditional

support and all her contributions for the best development of this research.

Our gratitude also goes to our parents who motivated us to continue in this process

of learning every single day and also who supported us financially throughout this

process of study.

We would also like to thank all the students who took part in our research, to the

English teacher and the National Institute Rodolfo Castillo.

Thousands of thanks to all who took part in the process of this document

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT ....................................................................................................... 2

3. BACKGROUND........................................................................................................................ 3

4. JUSTIFICATION ....................................................................................................................... 4

5. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK............................................................................................. 5

5.1 English as a Second Language ESL ............................................................................. 5

5.2 The four language skills ................................................................................................... 6

5.3 Reading ............................................................................................................................. 7

5.4 Reading Comprehension .............................................................................................. 8

5.5 The Importance of Teaching Reading ....................................................................... 9

5.6 Authentic Materials ........................................................................................................ 9

5.7 Important Factors in Choosing Authentic Reading Material ............................ 10

5.8 The Use Of Authentic Reading Materials In The Classroom ........................... 11

6 RESEARCH VARIABLES .................................................................................................... 13

7. METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN ............................................................................................ 14

8. CHRONOGRAM OF ACTIVITIES ....................................................................................... 17

9. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 20

10. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 24

11. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 26

12. ANNEXES………………………………………………………………………….………29

Effectiveness of Real-Life based Passages for the Development of Reading Comprehension

1

1. INTRODUCTION

Nowadays the English language has become a need to have access to

better opportunities. It is a language that joins countries, races, social lives and

business. English is a fundamental subject in the scope of the educational

curriculum according to the ministry of education. MINED considers the learning

process of a new language as an essential part of the development of any person.

However, reading comprehension has become a challenge for the students,

probably because many of our secondary school English classes are based on

traditional materials and textbooks whose content is set to foreign situations and

fictional scenarios. Consequently, teachers are in constant search for creative

methods that improve and motivate students to learn the language.

Our research is focused on the effectiveness of using authentic materials to

improve reading comprehension in tenth grade students. These kinds of materials

have proven to make students feel motivated and interested in the English class.

Authentic passages could make the content easier to understand and therefore

have a positive effect in their learning process.

As part of the scope of this research, we have created some authentic

materials for the English class that is real-life based passages, whose primary

sources of information were real people, interviewed and recorded on three

different topics. In this document, we present the passages that were created

based on interviews and how these passages were integrated into lesson plans in

conjunction with motivational strategies for the development of reading

comprehension in real English classes.

The main objective to fulfill with this research is to evaluate the effectiveness

of the real-life passages for the development of reading comprehension in tenth-

grade students at the National Institute “Rodolfo Castillo” during the first semester

2017.


2

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Most of the time, English classes are based on traditional materials and

textbooks whose content is set to foreign situations and fictional scenarios. If

teachers use innovative materials while teaching, it is probable that student will

be more interested in the class and learn more as a result.

Students should be exposed to appropriate knowledge and teachers should try

different strategies and teaching methods to enhance the students’ skills.

Teaching reading should not be considered a boring task. Instead, it should be

an innovative process with interesting, new knowledge; including key

vocabulary, phrases, grammar structures and some cultural insights.

2.1 Guideline questions

1. What is the best approach to create authentic reading materials based on

real-life experiences for the development of reading comprehension?

2. How to implement real-life based passages in English classes as a

motivational strategy to enhance reading?

3. How effective are real-life based passages for the development of reading

comprehension?


3

3. BACKGROUND

In the past, some similar studies have been conducted by other students of the

English major offered by UNAN-Managua. According to Rodríguez Toruño &

Téllez( 2010) on the research about reading comprehension carried out at at the

Nuestra Señora del Rosario high school and at Colegio Rural Casa Blanca de

Pueblo Nuevo, there are strategies that help students improve their reading skill.

The survey made by the researches showed that students enjoy learning English

through stories or readings about real-life or daily situations that call their attention

and interest.

Aráuz, Molina, & Molina ( 2014) carried out a similar research on reading

comprehension. Their results suggest that some methodological strategies are

more suitable for reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. They

affirm that the use of reading in English classes is fundamental to the development

and learning process of a second language. At the same time, it makes it easier to

improve listening, speaking and reading comprehension about what they read.

On the side of authentic materials, the research by Alaniz, Barahona, & Ortuño

(2011) worked on creating audio-visual authentic materials for the development of

listening and speaking. 61% of the students strongly agree that they understood

the message in short one-minute videos. The pictures and sounds in the videos

they created had a good impact in the comprehension of the topics. Almost 95% of

the student agreed that the drawing or pictures helped them to understand the

message within the videos. Everyone agreed that the use of micropills, that is

authentic videos based on real-life topic, are an excellent material to learn and

practice a new language.

Taking into account the results of these research papers, we pretend to develop

our research focusing on the effectiveness of real-life based passages for the

development of reading comprehension.


4

4. JUSTIFICATION

Reading is a very critical skill that many students can take for granted. Most high

school students in Nicaragua are not used to practice much reading in the English

class. Students will often feel discouraged to read during the class; therefore

strategies that motivate them to read in the English class are needed.

Students often show a lot of problems such as lack of vocabulary, pronunciation,

difficulties in translation and weaknesses in grammatical tenses. Sometimes,

teachers do not have teaching resources for the English class. These reasons

have motivated us to do this investigation to find out other existing reasons that are

influencing the development of the reading ability.

The results of this research will provide useful insights about the way authentic

reading passages can influence reading comprehension in students. These

passages will be based on the students’ learning needs and their environment as

well, which is why they have more potential to motivate them to practice reading.

This research has been based on the importance of English as a foreign language

in our daily lives to implement strategies to develop reading comprehension and to

determine the skills acquired by tenth Grade Students at the National Institute

“Rodolfo Castillo”, during the first semester 2017.


5

5. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In this section, we will review the literature related to the strategies and methods

for teaching reading in English as a second language. In addition, some of the

theory regarding the use of authentic materials will be covered. Thus, this

theoretical framework will introduce concepts related to the reading skill, its

importance, and different methods to teach the skill, the definition of authentic

materials and its use, all of which are of high level of significance to plan the study

and analyze the data.

5.1 English as a Second Language ESL

As an essential piece of our language experience, readings can be of great value

to foreign language teaching which can propel language learning. According to

Richard Lane (2009), the English language is now closer to being the world's

second language than any other since the dominance of Latin in Western

civilization. Today, English is the official or first language most popular around the

world.

The best estimates are that 50,000,000 primary school students and 75,000,000

secondary school students are currently studying English as a second language.

To this can be added millions more who are studying English at the adult and

college/university levels.

Learning a new language takes time and dedication. Once learners make it, being

fluent in a second language offers numerous benefits and opportunities. Learning a

second language is exciting and beneficial at all ages. It offers practical, intellectual

and many aspirational benefits.


6

5.2 The four language skills

For Charles Bowes (2016), language is the means of thoughts and learning.

Thanks to the language skills, we receive pieces of information, we provide them

and construct our own reality.

Which are the four basic language skills and what do they consist of?

Listening: There’s a big difference between hearing and listening: hearing means

to perceive sounds vibrations; listening involves understanding and giving meaning

to what you hear.

Speaking: Children develop this language skill by listening to their relatives. They

start relating specific sounds with a concrete meaning in a natural way. A good

start for the academic success is a big contact with the language: the more parents

speak to their children the better they get prepared to assimilate knowledge in the

school.

Reading: The development of reading is the key for a good learning; it’s absolutely

necessary to understand what you read in order to assimilate the contents.

Writing: It’s the way to put on a paper the words you say. For a child it’s the

longest process.

We learn our mother tongue by listening, speaking and later by reading and writing.

Nevertheless, when learning English or another language, we have to develop the

four skills in the same time insomuch as by growing, we start losing our capability

to absorb languages and we focus on the codes of our mother tongue.

But in this case we are focused in reading skill. This work aims to develop our

Reading Comprehension, which is basically the evaluation of what we have

interpreted or understood a particular narrative, extracting what is termed as the

main ideas that mark precisely the essence of what we have read, as well as giving


7

place to the main concepts that are turned in the content of the narration or the text

that we have analyzed.

5.3 Reading

According to Mikulecky (2008), “Reading is a conscious and unconscious

thinkingprocess. The reader applies many strategies to reconstruct the meaning

that the author is assumed to have intended. The reader does this by comparing

information in the text to his or her background knowledge and prior experience”.

Reading is a number of interactive processes between the reader and the text,

in which readers use their knowledge to build, to create, and to construct meaning.

Reading means different things to different people, for some it is recognizing

written words, while for others it is an opportunity to teach pronunciation and

practice speaking. However reading always has a purpose. It is something that we

do every day, it is an integral part of our daily lives, taken very much for granted

and generally assumed to be something that everyone can do. The reason for

reading depends very much on the purpose for reading.

Alderson (2000) defines reading as “…an enjoyable, intense, private activity,

from which much pleasure can be derived, and in which one can become totally

absorbed.

Reading is sawn from different aspects to different persons, for some it is only

recognizing written words, whereas for others it is an opportunity to reinforce

pronunciation, teach vocabulary, improve fluency and practice speaking. On the

other hand reading always must have a purpose. The cause for reading depends

immensely on the purpose for reading. According to Alderson (2000.) Reading can

have three main purposes, for survival, for learning or for pleasure. “ Reading for

survival is considered to be in response to our environment, to find out information

and can include street signs, advertising, and timetables”. It depends infinitely on

the day to day needs of the reader and often involves an immediate response to a

situation. In contrast reading for learning is considered to be the type of reading


8

done in the classroom and is goal orientated. While Reading for pleasure is

something that does not have to be done.

The Pedagogue Nuttell (1996), in his research “Teaching Reading English

Skills in a Second language”, shows that the central ideas behind readings are:

The idea of meaning

The transfer of meaning from one mind to another

The transfer of a message from writer to reader

How we get meaning by reading

How the reader, the writer and the text all contribute to the process.

The most comprehensive description of the reading process are interactive

models, “…in which every component in the reading process can interact with any

other component”. For Joseph (2000), reading is considered to be an interactive

process (a conversation between writer/reader, even though the writer is not

present) and for it to occur both processes are necessary, top-down to predict the

meaning and bottom-up to check it. The two are therefore complementary ways of

processing a text. Knowledge and experiences of the world around us also

influence how a text is read or processed. It operates actively and constructively,

with our knowledge of the world being a continuous process that upon receiving

new information interprets it on the basis of what is already known.

5.4 Reading Comprehension

According to Wallace (2001), most of reading process can be seen mostly

as a cognitive activity. Besides, it gives greater prominence to the students’ ‟

affective in engaging themselves into the text. Regarding the cognitive process and

students‟ engagement to the text, the terms of reading comprehension become a

vital component in reading process. “Reading comprehension can be described as

a complex process which needs readers active thinking in constructing meaning to

get deep understanding to the concepts and information displayed from the text”.

Westwood (2008) states that besides using prior knowledge, students

should have good word recognition skills and implement some reading strategies

such as identifying main ideas, making connections, questioning, inferring, and


9

predicting who asserted that a good reader is considered to be actively engage

with the text and use comprehension strategies. It can be concluded that to

comprehend a text successfully, there are various factors that contribute into the

process which are L2 language knowledge and reading strategies that the readers

applied through reading the text.

5.5 The Importance of Teaching Reading

Hedge (2003) states that any reading component of an English language course

may include a set of learning goals:

the ability to read a wide range of texts in English. This is the long range

goal most teachers seek to develop through independent readers outside

EFL/ESL classroom.

building a knowledge of the language which will facilitate reading ability

building schematic knowledge.

the ability to adapt the reading style according to reading purpose (i.e.

skimming, scanning)

developing an awareness of the structure of written texts in English

taking a critical stance to the contents of the texts

The last goal can be implemented at an advanced level. Students, however, should

be kept aware that not all Internet content is authentic since there are no “gate

keepers” and anyone can post whatever he/she likes in this cyperspace.

5.6 Authentic Materials

According to Calpro (2007), authentic materials are print, video, and audio

materials students encounter in their daily lives, such as change-of address forms,

job applications, menus, voice mail messages, radio programs, and videos.

Authentic materials are not created specifically to be used in the classroom, but

they make excellent learning tools for students precisely because they are

authentic.


10

Authentic texts have been defined as “…real-life texts, not written for

pedagogic purposes” They are therefore written for native speakers and contain

“real” language. They are “…materials that have been produced to fulfil some

social purpose in the language community.” (Gates & Soler., 2001.), in contrast to

non-authentic texts that are especially designed for language learning purposes.

The language in non-authentic texts is artificial and unvaried, concentrating on

something that has to be taught and often containing a series of “false-text

indicators” that include:

- perfectly formed sentences (all the time);

- a question using a grammatical structure, gets a full answer;

- repetition of structures;

- very often does not “read” well.

5.7 Important Factors in Choosing Authentic Reading Material

Belard (2006) affirms that there are four important factors in choosing authentic

material and four types of authenticity which are the following:

Suitability of Content

Does the text interest the student?

Is it relevant to the student’s needs?

Does it represent the type of material that the student will use outside of the

classroom?

Exploitability

Can the text be exploited for teaching purposes?

For what purpose should the text be exploited?

What skills/strategies can be developed by exploiting the text?

Readability

Is the text too easy/difficult for the student?

Is it structurally too demanding/complex?

How much new vocabulary does it contain? Is it relevant?


11

Presentation

Does it “look” authentic?

Is it “attractive”?

Does it grab the student’s attention?

Does it make him want to read more?

Four types of authenticity within the classroom have been identified and in

particular to the use of authentic texts:

Authenticity of the texts which we may use as input data for our students

Authenticity of the learners’ own interpretations of such texts;

Authenticity of tasks conducive to language learning;

Authenticity of the actual social situation of the classroom language.

5.8 The Use Of Authentic Reading Materials In The Classroom

One of the main ideas of using authentic materials in the classroom is to

“expose” the learner to as much real language as possible. Even if the classroom

is not a “real-life” situation, authentic materials do have a very important place

within it. It has been argued that by taking a text out of its original context, it loses it

authenticity: “As soon as texts, whatever their original purpose, are brought into

classrooms for pedagogic purposes they have, arguably, lost authenticity.”

(Wallace C. , 2000)

Even if true, the learner is still exposed to real discourse and not the artificial

language of course textbooks, which tend not to contain any incidental or improper

examples. They also tend to reflect the current teaching trend. Authentic materials

also give the reader the opportunity to gain real information and know what is going

on in the world around them. More times than not, they have something to say, be

it giving information, a review. They also produce a sense of achievement.

Extracting real information from a real text in a new/different language can be


12

extremely motivating, therefore increasing students' motivation for learning by

exposing them to 'real' language (Gauriento, 2001).

They also reflect the changes in language use, (again something that does

not occur in textbooks, which become very dated, very quickly) as well as giving

the learner the proof that the language is real and not only studied in the

classroom:

“Authentic texts can be motivating because they are proof that the language

is used for real-life purposes by real people.” (Gauriento, 2001)


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6 RESEARCH VARIABLES

Main research

variables

Definition Dimensions Indicators

Independent

Variable

Real-Life based

Passages

Reading passages that are

based on real-life stories from

people living in communities and

other places in Nicaragua.

Motivation and

empathy with the

stories.

1. Students’ motivation towards reading the

passage

2. Interest in the content of the reading

3. Empathy with characters in the stories

4. The student’s reaction to the message of the

passage.

5. Associations with similar real-life stories

6. Willingness to share/tell or create similar

stories in their lives.

Dependent

variable

Development of

Reading

Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the

act of understanding what you

are reading. Reading

comprehension is an intentional,

active, interactive process that

occurs before, during and after a

person reads a particular piece

of writing. (K12 Reader, 2016)

Vocabulary,

grammar and

comprehension.

1. Understanding of vocabulary in the passage

2. Comprehension of the main idea of the

passage.

3. Discussion about the reading content

4. Comprehension of grammatical structures in

the passage.

5. Practice of grammar related to the passage.

6. Solving of specific exercises in the passage.


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7. METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN

This section of the research introduces the methodology. Here we state the

research design we followed, and the procedures for participant’s selection.

Moreover, this section includes a description of the data collection methods we

applied, and a brief plan for data analysis.

Research Design

This research follows a qualitative design to explore the reaction of the

students to the passages in detail from a more open perspective. We want to verify

that both students are interested in practicing reading comprehension through real

life stories and get their opinions about the new materials.

This research was conducted during the first semester of the 2017 school

year. Because of the nature of the data to be gathered, this research worked

following a qualitative design. We aimed to analyze the perspectives and points of

view of the participants in the selected sample regarding authentic reading

passages and evaluate our results with the existent literature on the topic. The

methodology was addressed to an educational range, tenth grade of secondary

school.

Research Site

The National Institute of Palacaguina Rodolfo Castillo, is a secondary school

located in Palacaguina in the department of Madriz. The school offers regular

instruction from Monday to Friday, so the student population is served in two shifts

(morning and afternoon).

The school has an infrastructure of 18 classroom designed for students,

from which only 13 are used by the students. The school has all the basic

conditions including a library, two data classroom, a staff room, a principal’s office

and a sports field.


15

Subject Selection

The universe of this research was of 163 students of the afternoon shift, at

the “National Institute of Palacaguina Rodolfo Castillo” high school, in the first

semester 2017, in the municipality of Palacaguina, Department of Madriz. The

population was composed of 32 students of tenth grade “C” the afternoon shift.

Sampling: The sample was taken by convenience because we chose students

with better performance in the English class.

The sample was formed by 12 students of tenth grade “C” at National institute of

Palacaguina Rodolfo Castillo, representing 32 students of the total population and

an English teacher.

Data Collection

In this research we applied two types of instruments: interviews and an observation

guide, so that we do not restrict the views of participant. Data collection was with a

few open-ended questions that we design.

Observation Guide

According to (Kawulich, 2005), observations have been used in a variety of

disciplines as a tool for collecting data about people, processes and cultures in

qualitative research.

Interview

According to (Brinkmann, 2014), the interview is a conversational practice where

knowledge is produced through the interaction between an interviewer and an

interviewee.

Before teaching, interviews were applied to the people who are the sources of

information for the real-life based passages. These were unstructured interviews

whose goal was to collect as much details of the story as possible.


16

In order to evaluate the teaching process and the effectiveness of real-life based

passages, the following interviews were applied:

1- The first interview was made out of 12 questions targeted to the English

teacher. This was done in order to know more about his experience

teaching reading to the students in the class.

2- A second interview was carried out and aimed at the students. This

interview included 12 questions based on the two main variables in the

study: English reading comprehension and authentic passages.

Data Analysis

According (Nigatu, 2009) qualitative data analysis is the range of processes and

procedures whereby we moved from the qualitative data that have been collected

into some form of explanation, understanding or interpretation of the people and

situation we investigated. It is usually based on an interpretative philosophy. The

idea is to examine the meaningful and symbolic content of qualitative data.

After collecting the data from the interview and observation guide, the results

gotten from the applied instruments were analyzed and discussed.


17

8. CHRONOGRAM OF ACTIVITIES

No Activity Time/Place Participants Hours

1 Methodological discussion. March 14th,

University

Group 2

2 Brainstorming general theme. March 19th,

Zeneyda´s house.

Group 4

3 Definition of research questions. March 21st,

University.

Group 1

4 Problem Statement. March 23th,

University.

Group 2

5 Problem Statement. March 26th,

Zeneyda´s house.

Group 3

6 Background. March 30th,

University.

Group 2

7 Background. April 03rd,Library

of FAREM-ESTELI

Group 2

8 Definition of research objectives. April 06th,

University.

Group 2

9 Improving background and

developing layout for theoretical

framework

April 17th, Library

of FAREM-ESTELI.

Group 6

20 Review of theoretical framework

layout with the teacher.

April 20th,

University.

Group 2

21 Downloading book and reading

literature for the theoretical

framework.

April 23rd, Kenia´s

house.

Group 7

22 Working on theoretical framework. April 24th and 25th,

Library of FAREM-

ESTELI.

Group 8

23 Working justification and review of April 27th, Group 2


18

theoretical framework with the

teacher.

University.

24 Visiting the Institute for permission. May 02nd,

Nacional Institute

of Palacagüina

Rodolfo Castillo

Amador.

Group 1

25 Obtaining Variables May 04th,

University.

Group 2

26 Working methodological design. May 07th, Mariel´s

house.

Group 6

27 Review methodological design with

the teacher.

May 11th,

University.

Group 2

28 Application of interviews people

particular on experiences.

May 12th and 15th,

teacher Urania´s

house in Yali;

Pastor Vilda´s

house; Ali´s store

in Esteli.

Group 15

29 Writing stories. May 16th, Library

of FAREM-ESTELI.

Group 8

30 Review the stories with the teacher.

Instrument design, chronogram of

activities and bibliography.

May 18th,

University.

Group 2

31 Improving instrument design. May 21st,

Zeneyda´s house.

Group 5

32 Planning class and materials. May 25th,

University.

Group 2

33 Planning class and materials. June 01st,

University.

Group 2

34 Preparing material to develop plans

class.

June 04th,

Zeneyda´s house.

Group 5

35 Application of lesson plans. June 08th and Group 3


19

09th, Nacional

Institute of

Palacagüina

Rodolfo Castillo

Amador.

36 Application of interviews to students

and teacher.

June 15th and

16th, Nacional

Institute of

Palacagüina

Rodolfo Castillo

Amador.

Group 2

37 Analysis instruments. June 18th, Kenia´s

house.

Group 7

38 Writing discussion, results and

conclusion.

June 19th to 25th,

Library of FAREM-

ESTELI and

Zeneyda´s house.

Group 35

39 Working introduction and abstract. June 26th and

27th, Library of

FAREM-ESTELI.

Group 8

40 Improve and review of final

document.

June 29th, teacher

Jeydels house.

Group 7


20

9. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

What is the effectiveness of Real-Life based Passages for the Development of

Reading Comprehension?

Alderson (2000) defines reading as “…an enjoyable, intense, private activity,

from which much pleasure can be derived, and in which one can become totally

absorbed.

“Authentic texts can be motivating because they are proof that the language

is used for real-life purposes by real people.” (Gauriento, 2001) In order to test the

effectiveness of passages based on real life experiences, we followed three

research guideline questions:

1. What is the best approach to create authentic reading materials based on

real-life experiences for the development of reading comprehension?

Three interesting themes were selected: a love story, a miracle and how to

overcome obstacles. The information for the creation of the stories was collected

through interviews with the participation of three particular persons for its later

writing. It took us three days to record the stories.

In order to make the first interview, we traveled to the municipality of “Yalí,

Jinotega” where a local English teacher offered us an interview about the topic

“Overcoming obstacles” (see annex 3, pag 36 ). The second interview was carried

out with a shop owner called. Ali told us his story and we entitled this passage “Ali

is in love” (see annex 2, pag 32). One of the main difficulties for Ali’s interview

was that initially he did not let us record him, but once we convinced him, he

agreed to participate and be recorded. As for the last story, we decided to

interview an evangelic pastor (See annex 1, pag 29 ). She told us about a miracle

that happened to her son. When she was sharing her testimony, she felt sad


21

because she remembered all the difficulties they had gone through, so she had

some difficulties to speak.

2. How to implement real-life based passages in English classes as a

motivational strategy to enhance reading?

Prior to the application of the three stories in the classroom, we worked in

the making of a strategic and methodological plan in which the level of authenticity

of the stories had to be reflected and put into practice. The plans focused on

reading comprehension and creative activities, apart from meaningful interactions

among the students.

To execute the plans, we had two sessions of classes with a sample of

twelve students. In every plan, we included different activities such as: fast reading,

identifying the grammatical structure, cutting up and rearranging the story, story

recreation, responding key question and discussing questions. Lastly, we asked

some follow-up questions to evaluate our own performance during the class.

3. How effective are real-life based passages for the development of

reading comprehension?

To estimate the level of effectiveness of our work, we made use of

observation guides and interviews that were applied to the students. The questions

on these instruments were taken from on our research variables. Next, we will

describe in detail the results of these instruments.

Student’s Interview and observation

During the application of the classes, we realized that passages based on

real life situations definitely impact the reader and help them connect with the

experiences lived by the author, because every life experience can easily become

a real story that can be reproduced as a learning material in the English class.

Westwood (2008) states that besides using prior knowledge, students

should have good word recognition skills and implement some reading strategies


22

such as identifying main ideas, making connections, questioning, inferring, and

predicting who asserted that a good reader is considered to be actively engage

with the text and use comprehension strategies. Most students specially senior

high school are not familiar with authentic reading, for this reason the teacher

affirms that the use of these will evidently be compared or associated with their

own life, independently have or not have enough vocabulary students are able to

comprehend the context according to the methodological strategy implemented by

the teacher, and the ability to relate.

The observation guide for our study measured a series of variables that are

relevant for evaluating the effectiveness of the passages. During the classes, we

could witness the level of motivation and interest shown by the students for the

content of the readings. From the first moment we explained that the class was

based on real life stories, they started to make questions about their content.

Out of the 12 students that participated in the class, at least 10 of them felt

identified with the characters in the reading and in turn were able to relate the

content with other similar stories they had previously heard. It was evident that the

students were able to identify the main ideas, comprehend what they were reading,

engage in meaningful participation and develop the assigned exercises with the

help of the teacher.

We applied a written interview at the end of the last class for the purpose of

confirming the results of our observation regarding reading comprehension. This

instrument was a great tool to get an idea of the motivation and interest of the

students towards the materials.

In general, students expressed their willingness to continue learning with

these types of stories. They said that the stories were appealing and caused a

positive impact on them by making them more willing to learn and read more. In

addition, they said that it was easier to understand and complete the exercises

contained in the passages, which included grammatical structures, comprehension

questions, use of verbs and reading strategies.


23

During this study, we realized that reading comprehension is a complex and

challenging process that relies a lot on the materials and teaching strategies

carried out during the class. Reading has to do with ability to understand what is

said in the text, to extract the main ideas, as well as in interpreting and giving value

to the information expressed in the text.

Many high school students have serious difficulties understanding the texts

they read. Reading comprehension requires skills and competencies that are rarely

taught to the students. The lack of reading comprehension skills imposes

limitations to the students that have a serious impact in their professional careers

later in life. (Gutiérrez, Trujillo Obando, & Merlo Castillo, The effectiveness of short

stories as an strategy to teach reading comprehension, 2017)

Teacher’s Interview

As part of this research, an interview was applied to the English teacher.

She affirms that students are highly motivated when presented stories based on

real life experiences and the majority of them show interest in knowing the content.

The content of the passages evokes curiosity and besides some of the students

can relate to the characters in the readings. Likewise, the English teacher

considers that only a part of the students are able to analyze and interpret the

message contained in the reading, because their comprehension depends on the

vocabulary that they have been taught in previous classes and the one they have

learned by themselves. With that said, the students’ self-taught knowledge and

their interest towards the class are extremely important for improving their reading

skill.

Undoubtedly, it can be said that the use of authentic materials based in real

life passages are of great significance to the personal and cognitive development

of learners of a second language. It has been proved in this study that the use of

authentic materials along with engaging teaching strategies will result in significant

learning of the language, particularly in the enhancement of the reading skill.


24

10. CONCLUSION

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using

authentic materials in the English class in the form of real-life based passages for

the development of reading comprehension.

To achieve this goal, we studied different ways to use authentic materials in

the classroom, interviewed people with interesting stories and created short

passages according to the students’ previous knowledge and needs. Afterwards,

we planned lessons incorporating different motivational strategies that would blend

properly with these stories. As a result, we achieved active and total participation

from the students and deep comprehension of the content of these passages.

After analyzing the data collected during the classes, we can definitely say

that reading passages based on real life stories are of great importance and value

for developing the student’s ability to read in the English class. Authentic materials

can be easily remembered because they are produced out of things that students

can relate to, therefore making stories catch the attention of the readers with more

ease.

During the research process, we found out how important it is to make

students aware that being active readers can help them understand the language

more easily and that they should read in order to connect with the message that

the authors are trying to convey.

It is necessary for our educational system to form efficient readers who feel

enthusiastic and committed to reading and find meaning to what they read. As

teachers and researchers, we made use of authentic material to motive students to

read about topics that would grab their attention.

We conclude that the effectiveness of the real-life based passages proposed

in this research will depend on the interest, ingenuity and creativity with which they


25

are used by teachers and anyone who joins the noble task of rescuing interest and

liking for reading in our students, teenagers and young people. Its use allows us to

carry out productive activities that attract attention by engaging the students in

interesting tasks.


26

11. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Alaniz, D., Barahona, J., & Ortuño, E. (2011). Influence of micropills and the

task based method on the development of listening and speaking at San

Francisco High School in Estelí, during the second semester, 2011 . Estelí:

FAREM-Estelí.

2. Aráuz, L., Molina, M., & Molina, H. (2014). How can we encourage 11th

grade students to improve their reading comprehension skill in English at

high school at the “National Institute José Martí” in La Trinidad, Estelí.

Estelí: FAREM-Estelí.

3. Belard, S. (2006). The Use of Authentic Material in The Teaching of

Reading. The Reading Matrix, 63.

4. Bowes., C. (3 de junio de 2016). Bilinguismo y Tecnología. Recuperado el

26 de junio de 2017, de The four language skill and thir involment in

learning english.: http://www.bilinguismoytecnologia.com/en/las-cuatro-

habilidades-del-lenguaje-y-su-implicacion-en-el-aprendizaje-del-ingles/

5. Brinkmann, S. (2014). Interviews. SAGE Publications.

6. CALPRO. (2007). Professional Development based on Authentic Material.

American Institute for researches.

7. Dawani, S. (2006). Understanding the four basic language skills. Obtenido

de Education Director: www.google.com

8. Gates, P., & Soler., J. (2001.). Taking Literacy Skill Home. Focus on

Basics., 19-22.

9. Gauriento, M. (2001). Text and Task Authenticity in the EFL. Classroom in

ELT. Washington. D.C.: Oxford.

10. Gutiérrez, G. L., Trujillo Obando, E. F., & Merlo Castillo, C. M. (12 de

January de 2017). The effectiveness of short stories as an strategy to teach

reading comprehension. 24. Estelí, Nicaragua.

11. Gutiérrez, G. L., Trujillo Obando, E. F., & Merlo Castillo, C. M. (12. de

January de 2017.). The effectiveness of short stories as an strategy to teach

reading comprehension. 24. Estelí., Nicaragua.


27

12. Harmer, J. (2001). How to teach English. Malaysia: Longman Pearson

Education.

13. Hornby, A. S. (2006). Oxford Advanced Learner´s Dictionary of Current

English. New York: Oxford University Press.

14. IBERCOTEC. (2009). Micropildoras, avanzando en los nuevos códigos de

comunicación: un minuto, un mensaje . Estelí, Nicaragua.

15. Jarquín, S. (12 de Abril de 2014). Importance of English Language. El

Nuevo Diario, pág. 19.

16. Joseph., A. (2000.). Reading in a foreign Language. London.: Longman.

17. K12 Reader. (2016). K12 Reader - Reading Instruction Resources.

Obtenido de What is Reading Comprehension?:

http://www.k12reader.com/what-is-reading-comprehension/

18. Kawulich, B. (2005). Forum Qualitative Social Research. Forum Qualitative

Sozialforschung, 2.

19. Lane., R. (2009). English as a Second Language. Stanford. United States of

America.: Lane Press.

20. Mikulecky, B. (2008.). What is reading?. Teaching Reading in a Second

Language. Boston., United States of America: Pearson Education.

21. Nigatu, T. (2009). Qualitative Data Analysis.

22. Richards, J. (2006). Communicative Language Teaching Today.

Recuperado el 22 de Abril de 2011, de www.google.com

23. Rodríguez Toruño , H., & Téllez, S. (2010). How to help to improve reading

comprehension skill in English with fifth year students. Estelí: FAREM -

Estelí.

24. Wallace, C. (2000). Reading Skill. New York, United States of America:

Oxford.

25. Wallace, C. (2001). The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers

of Other Languages. New York: Cambridge University Press.

26. Westwood, P. (2008). What Teachers Need to Know About Reading and

Writing Difficulties. Victoria: Acer Press.


28

27. Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task based learning. Birminghan:

Longman.

28. Woodward, S. (1997). Fun with Grammar. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.


29

12. ANNEXES

Annex 1 .A Miracle

Main Character: Vilda Blandón

Place: Estelí Education level: Primary

Age: 72 Job: Evangelic pastor

Vilda Blandón is an evangelic pastor. She lives in the Jaime Ubeda neighborhood, in the

city of Estelí. Her son used to suffer from a disease that caused him fatigue and asphyxia.

One day, God made a miracle in her son’s life. After performing several tests, the doctors

told her that he needed an open-heart surgery and they advised her to travel abroad.

However, their family did not have enough money to make the trip.

She prayed to God with faith asking him for help to go through that terrible situation she

was in. In response to her prayers, many people appeared and helped her with all the

expenses and she was able to travel to the United States with her son. During the flight,

the young man felt something special happening to his body. He told his mother and she

exclaimed that it was a sign from God. When they arrived at the hospital, the doctors

checked him. Time passed and then she received the news that her son’s heart was in

perfect conditions and that it was not necessary to have the surgery done. In the end, she

and her son thanked God for making this great miracle happen.


30

LESSON PLANS

National Institute Palacaguina

Subject: Foreign Language

Time: 45 minutes

Stories: “A miracle of God”

Grammar: Simple Past.

Grade: Tenth

Content: Reading Comprehension

Date:

A miracle

Vilda Blandón1 is an evangelic pastor. She lives in the Jaime Ubeda neighborhood,

in the city of Estelí. Her son used to suffer from a disease that caused him fatigue

and asphyxia. One day, God made a miracle in her son’s life. After performing

several tests, the doctors told her that he needed an open-heart surgery and they

advised her to travel abroad. However, their family did not have enough money to

make the trip.

She prayed to God with faith asking him for help to go through that terrible situation

she was in. In response to her prayers, many people appeared and helped her with

all the expenses and she was able to travel to the United States with her son.

During the flight, the young man felt something special happening to his body. He

told his mother and she exclaimed that it was a sign from God. When they arrived

at the hospital, the doctors checked him. Time passed and then she received the

news that her son’s heart was in perfect conditions and that it was not necessary to

have the surgery done. In the end, she and her son thanked God for making this

great miracle happen.

1 The evangelic pastor Vilda Blandón, authorized us publish this story to take a message of God and at the same time motivate the learning of reading in students.


31

Vocabulary:

Miracle: Milagro

Neighborhood: barrio

Disease: enfermedad

Performing: presentar

Several: Varios

Abroad: extranjero

Enough: suficiente

Faith: fe

Overcome: superar

Flight: vuelo

Surgery: cirugia

Activities:

1st Activity

Teacher reads aloud the reading: while teacher reads students will pass to the

board and will write the verbs that they can identify in simple past tense.

2nd Activity CUT UP & REARRANGE

1. Divide students into small groups or pairs.

2. Hand out a cut-up version of the story or dialogue.

3. Have students try to arrange the sentences in order. It helps to tell them which

sentence is first.

4. Encourage them to tell each other why they think a particular sentence comes

next.

5. To make it fun, you could have a prize for the team or pair that finishes first.

3rd Activity

Students will respond key questions to identify the level of comprehension.

1. Where does Vilda Blandon live?

2. What kind of surgery needed her son?

3. Who helped to her in this trouble?

4. What was the news that she received in the hospital of united states?

5. Which was the miracle that god made in her?


32

Final Evaluation

1. ¿Cómo les pareció la clase?

2. ¿Creen que aprendieron algo nuevo en lo que estudiamos?

3. ¿Sienten que comprendieron el mensaje de las lecturas estudiadas?

4. ¿Les gusto la clase de hoy?

5. Mencionen alguna experiencia que tuvo en esta clase?

Annex 2. Alí is in love

Main Character: Alí

Place: Estelí Education level: Primary

Age: 66 Job: Seller

Ali Javier2 is a kind man who lives in Estelí. He has a small store called “Mi

cafecito”, which is located in front of Shell Esquipulas. In his youth, his family was

very poor and they could never see progress due to his father’s addictions. Time

passed and he met a young lady. He fell in love with her and started a nice

relationship. They were very happy. They got married, bought a house and formed

a family. They had two sons. However, his wife got very sick later.

2 Ali Javier authorized the publising of this story to any use.


33

He did the best he could to help her, but everything he did was in vain. He got

depressed so he started drinking alcohol and forgot about his job and the medicine

for his wife. His wife’s health worsened and after twenty years of suffering and

fighting against her illness, she passed away in September 29th, 1989. He suffered

and felt bad about her death. Five years later, he fell in love again and started a

normal life again. He lives happily with his current partner and likes his job at his

small store.

Lesson Plan No. 2

National Institute Palacaguina

Subject: Foreign Language

Time: 45 minutes

Stories: “ alí in the love”

Grammar: Simple Past.

Grade: Tenth

Content: Reading Comprehension

Date:

Achievement Indicator: Students will be able to comprehend stories of real

life applying simple past tense. They will show interest about it.

Content: Reading Comprehension: “A miracle of God”

Initial Activities:

Greetings

Putting in order the class

Checking Attendance

General Orientations

Exploring knowledge


34

Alí is in Love

Ali Javier is a kind man who lives in Estelí. He has a small store called “Mi

cafecito”, which is located in front of Shell Esquipulas. In his youth, his family was

very poor and they could never see progress due to his father’s addictions. Time

passed and he met a young lady. He fell in love with her and started a nice

relationship. They were very happy. They got married, bought a house and formed

a family. They had two sons. However, his wife got very sick later.

He did the best he could to help her, but everything he did was in vain. He got

depressed so he started drinking alcohol and forgot about his job and the medicine

for his wife. His wife’s health worsened and after twenty years of suffering and

fighting against her illness, she passed away in September 29th, 1989. He suffered

and felt bad about her death. Five years later, he fell in love again and started a

normal life again. He lives happily with his current partner and likes his job at his

small store.

Vocabulary:

Located: Ubicado

Youth: Juventud

Poor: Pobre

Due: debido

Vices: vicios

fell in love: enamoró

marry: casarse

wife: esposa

vain: vano

shelter: refugio

dead: muerte

passed away: morir

worsened: empeoró


35

Activities:

1st Activity

Teacher reads aloud the reading: while teacher reads students will pass to the

board and will write the verbs that they can identify in simple past tense.

2nd Activity

Story Re-creation:

2. Divide students in small groups, and give each group a different story that they’ll

need to act out in front of the class.

3rd Activity

Students will response key questions to identify the level of comprehension.

1. Where is Ali’s store located?

2. Why is it that they never saw progress?

3. How many kids did they have?

4. When did his wife die?

5. What did he do when his wife died?


36

Annex 3. Overcoming Obstacles

Main Character: Urania

Place: San Sebastian de Yali Education level: Professional

Age: 24 Job: Teacher

Urania Díaz3 is a young lady who grew up in a humble family in the municipality of

Yalí. Her family did not have much money, but she always dreamed about going to

college. She started attending the university when she was eighteen years old. She

faced many difficulties and nobody helped her with her education expenses. She

used to work in the fields picking coffee to continue studying.

During her fourth year of college, she thought about dropping out, but she begged

to God to give her strength. Some people encouraged her to continue, which

changed her mind and helped her to keep going. She always had a positive

attitude after that. Today, she thanks God for overcoming all of the obstacles and

does her job with much enthusiasm.

3 The English teacher, Urania Díaz was agree about publish this story to be applied to different uses.


37

Annex 4. Students Interview

Instituto Nacional Palacagüina Rodolfo Castillo.

Querido estudiante.

Buen día. Somos estudiantes de la carrera de inglés y

estamos en nuestro trabajo final de investigación,

sería de gran ayuda para nosotros que dieran

respuesta a estas preguntas. De antemano,

muchísimas gracias!

1. ¿Qué tan motivado te sientes al leer estos pasajes de lectura?

2. ¿Crees que es interesante el contenido de estas lecturas?

3. ¿Te sientes identificado con algunos de los personajes de las lecturas

estudiadadas en estas clases?

4. ¿Cuál es tu reacción al leer el contenido de estas historias? Explique.

5. ¿Al leer estos pasajes recordaste alguna historia que haya sucedido en tu

barrio?

6. ¿Podrías mencionar historias similares que has escuchado?

7. ¿Es difícil para ti comprender el vocabulario de estos pasajes?

8. ¿Puedes identificar con facilidad la idea principal de estos pasajes?

9. ¿Entiendes la estructura gramatical que predomina en estos pasajes?

10. ¿Consideras que podrías utilizar la gramática de la lectura para escribir o

contar alguna historia de tu vida?

11. ¿Tienes alguna dificultad al resolver ejercicios de compresión lectora? Por

qué?

12. ¿Crees que es importante la creación de historias de la vida real? ¿Por

qué?


38

Annexe 5. Teacher interview

We are students of the English major and we are working on a

research paper based in authentic materials “real-life stories”

for the development of reading comprehension. We need your

help to answer the following questions about this topic.

Beforehand thank you very much!

Name of the teacher:____________ Date:______

1. Do you think students feel motivated to read real-life stories?

2. When students read, are they interested in knowing the content of the passages or

just read superficially?

3. Have you ever noticed if the students identify with the characters in the passages?

4. Are students able to analyze and interprets the message contained in the reading?

5. Do you students compare the stories with their own life experiences?

6. Do you think that they are able to create their own stories?

7. Do you think that students have enough vocabulary to understand the message of

the readings?

8. Do the students manage to identify the main idea in the readings?

9. Have you ever observed whether students participate by giving their opinions about

the passages?

10. Do you think that students are able to recognize the grammatical structure in the

reading?

11. In your opinion, students have mastery of the grammatical structure when forming

sentences or writing texts?

12. Do you think that students are able to solve reading exercises?


39

Annexe 6. Observation guide

General Data

Name of the Centre: National Institute Palacagüina.

Department: Madriz. Municipality: Palacagüina. Date: _______________

Turn: Afternoon. Grade: Tenth. Section: “C”

Discipline: Foreign Language.

Objective: To check if the methodology used is effective in student learning.

Variables to observe Observation

1-The students show motivation for

the passage.

2-Students show interest in knowing

the content of the reading.

3-Students identify themselves with

the characters in the readings.

4-Students interpret the message of

the readings.

5-Students are able to compare other

stories with those of readings.

6-Students share similar stories in

their lives.

7-Students demonstrate proficiency

at the time of class.

8-Students identify the main idea of

the passage.

9-There is participation on the part of

the students.

10-Mastery of grammatical

structures.

11-Performing exercises using the

grammar.

12- Students understand the

passages properly.


40

Annex 7. Teaching Process

Picture No. 1 - Students were discussing about the reading “Miracle” and at the

same time they shared miracles happened in their lives.

Picture No. 2 - Here students were rearranging the stories and responding key

questions about it.


41

Picture No. 3 - Students were participating in fast reading and identifying

grammatical structures developed in the story.


42

Picture No. 4 - Students were acting about the content of the reading and

responding key questions.

Picture No. 5 - Students putting together their story on the board.

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